You can't solve the housing problem by just building more nice things for rich people

Half of every
completed complex marking Miami’s skyline appears half-empty. At night
you can count the dark vacancies, void of any patio furniture,
electricity or life.

These units aren’t owned by snow-birds; they are owned but unoccupied.

Foreign
investors, we were told, from Brazil and elsewhere. They viewed Miami as
a legitimate and safe place to invest. While this might be true to an
extent, the recent release of the Panama Papers confirms some things
haven’t changed: Miami’s booming high-end real estate market is at least
partially used to launder money and a majority of units purchased are
through offshore shell companies that hide true ownership and serve as a
legal way to evade taxes.

Yet developers
keep building at a fast pace, rents continue to increase beyond any
local’s affordability, all while small businesses close one after
another.

Concerned about illicit money flowing into luxury real estate, the Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would begin identifying and tracking secret buyers of high-end properties.

The initiative will start in two of the nation’s major destinations for global wealth: Manhattan
and Miami-Dade County. It will shine a light on the darkest corner of
the real estate market: all-cash purchases made by shell companies that
often shield purchasers’ identities.